Process for making relief pictures from plane pictures



Oct. 27, 1953 o. M. VARNER 2,656,634

PROCESS FOR MAKING RELIEF PICTURES FROM PLANE PICTURES Filed Aug. '21.1950 2 Sheets-Sheet l Odette M. Varner INVENTOR.

Oct. 27, 1953 o. M. VARNER 2,656,634

PROCESS FOR MAKING RELIEF PICTURES FROM PLANE PICTURES Filed Aug. 21,1950 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Odette M- Varner 6' INVENTOR.

M MM,

Patented Oct. 27, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE PROCESS FOR MAKINGRELIEF PICTURES FROM PLANE PICTURES Odette M. Varner, Vicksburg, Miss.

Application August 21, 1950, Serial No. 180,624

2 Claims. (01. 41-25) This invention relates to a process for makingrelief pictures, using a photograph, an original picture, or areproduction of an original as a base, and it has for its main object toprovide a process which permits the making of realistic relief pictures,the exposed surface of which is still formed by the photograph, originalpicture, or reproduced picture while the features of the object areaccentuated and rendered more realistic by the relief.

It is a further object of the invention to pro duce relief pictures, theouter surface of which is formed by a photograph, an original, or areproduction and which are of great and practically unlimited durabilityand which may be mounted on a plaque or plate so as to form ornamentalobjects for decorating walls or pieces of furniture.

When making reliefs reproducing objects which are either covered byblack and white photographs or by colored photographs or which arecovered by colored original drawings or pictures or reproductions, it isessential to make a relief of such a type that it reproduces roughly,the front part of the objects facing toward the observer, although thescale applying to the depth dimension may be much reduced when comparedwith that of the other dimensions. However, on the other hand, therelief must be made in such a way that it is possible to cover the samecompletely with a sheet of paper without leaving air filled spacesbetween the covering sheet of paper and the mass forming the relief,such air filled spaces being mostly the result of the fact that thecurvature between the raised and depressed portions of the reliefdiffers from that which can be adopted by the covering pic ture sheet.The molding substance from which the relief is produced must moreover behighly plastic and relatively soft at the beginning, so as to permitshaping of the object by a skilled operator. Therefore, the plasticitymust approximately be that of Plastiline or modeling clay, the formerbeing a special modeling clay containing in addition to the clay beeswaxand oil, this special product being frequently used for modelingpurposes, but afterwards the substance must harden when dried and mustthen be capable of remaining in this hardened condition indefinitelywithout contraction, shrinking or cracking so as to avoid the separationof the picture carrying sheet from the surface to which it is applied inthe course of time.

It is also preferable to confine the raised picture to a portion of theplaque or plate carrying the same and it is therefore necessary toproduce 2 an air-tight connection between the edge of the plasticpicture and the said plaque or plate.

The process according to the invention permits the fulfilling of theabove named conditions without necessitating the use of intermediate ortransfer sheets or entailing the necessity of obtaining a coincidencebetween the features of a prepared relief and the corresponding featuresof a picture and it permits the obtaining of pietures and photographs inrelief which are of great durability and which, if properly and skillfully made, are capable of making a realistic impression greatlyimproving the impression gained by viewing a picture in a planarsurface, the light reflection from which is mostly unsatisfactory. Therelief picture in addition to showing the lights and shadows visible inthe plane picture has its own system of lights and shadows whichproduces the impression of depth and which, if the relief is skillfullymade, partly corrects and partly reinforces the system of lights andshadows visible in the picture. Thus pictures of great decorative valueand great realism may be obtained from ordinary black and white orpreferably from colored photographs and originals or reproductions fromoriginals may be greatly improved.

The process is illustrated in the accompanying drawings by way ofexample. It is, however, to be understood that the drawings intend toillustrate the principle of the invention and the best mode of applyingthis principle. The drawings do not give a survey of all possiblemodifications of the process and a departure from the processillustrated is therefore not necessarily to be considered as a departurefrom the principle of the invention.

In the drawings:

Figures 1 to 5 are perspective views illustrating the first five stagesof the process according to the invention;

Figure 6 is a perspective view of the finished article; and

Figure 7 is an elevational sectional view of said article, the sectionbeing taken along line 'l--7 of Figure 6.

The invention essentially consists in a process by means of which a thinsheet of paper or of other material carrying a photograph, an original.picture, a reproduction in print of an original or the like is placedand permanently held on a relief of the object reproducing roughly theshape of the surface of said object preferably on a somewhat reduceddepth scale. The relief cannot reproduce the object completely but mustbe shaped in such a manner that the said photograph, picture or printcarrying sheet covers the surface continuously and adheres to thesurface at all points without any intervening non-supported andair-filled spaces or gaps. Moreover also the marginal edges of therelief must be so shaped and so joined to the plaque carrying the reliefpicture that the picture carrying sheet may join both the relief and theplaque in an air-tight manner.

The relief must be made by using a composition permitting easy shapingand modeling of the surface Which shape must be retained when the reliefis subjected to a hardening process. When varnished the picture reliefand the plaque their present a single surface covered bya protectivecoating which is durable and which may therefore be used for decoratinga wall or a piece of furniture.

The process according to the invention is described as being carried outwith a colored photograph but it will be understood that the specificcharacter of the picture is immaterial and that the process may becarried out in exactly the s: way with any original picture, with an etcg, with a lithographic or a printed reproduction and the like and allthese pictures may either be colored or merely finished in black andwhite. When reference is therefore made to a photograph, such areference always includes original pictures, printed reproductions, andreproductions made in other ways whether made by a photographic or byany other reproduction process.

Let it be assumed that the photograph of a person is used for making arelief picture of the said person on a plaque. The first and preliminarystep consists in the preparation of the sheet is carrying the picture.The sheet H) is usually a paper sheet and if the photograph for instancewas made for the purpose of making such a relief picture a special verythin sheet may be'selected as a carrier of the emulsion. However if therelief is made from an existing photograph the paper is usually a heavypaper and in this case the paper must be sanded on the back until thedesired reduction of the thickness has been obtained.

The photograph it may then be clamped or held in a suitable frame H andthis frame is placed before a strong source of light I2 with the picturecarrying side facing the said source of light. On the bacl: of the sheetthe main lines of the picture especially those lines along which adepression or a raising should take placeare traced by the operator onthe reverseside of the sheet. Figure 1 shows this stage of the process.

The sheet is now removed from the frame and the background portions ofthe picture are cut away along the contours of the object l5, so thatthe latter, for instance the contours of the figure or head of theperson shown in the portrait; now become the border lines of the sheet.

These steps are all preliminary steps and-they may of course be carriedout in a different sequence in accordance with conditions and with thepreference of the operator.

After the picture has been cut out and has been removed from the frameit is placed with its face downward on a work table or board It. Asufficient quantity of a plastic molding mixture has been preparedpreviously, which is now applied. The molding mixture may consist of'fiour, water, oil of cloves, alum, plaster of Paris and of a standardbrand of adhesive paste, for

instance of a paste of the type known as Library Paste. This term is awell known trade name for paste, the composition of Which is, forinstance, described in Bennetts The Chemical Formulary, vol. I, pages 10and 11. The above named substances are mixed in the desired proportionswhich may vary. It will also be clear that any other adhesive paste maybe used.

To give an example for the molding mixture 2 cups of flour, and 1tablespoon of alum are mixed with 5 cups of water and are boiled to thedesired adhesiveness. Then teaspoon of oil of cloves is added, and aboutby weight of the desired quantity of the mixture and of Library Pasteare mixed and creamed. Then plaster of Paris is added until the propermoldingv consistency has been reached.

The moldin mixture is then applied to the back of the sheet carrying thephotograph or picture (Figure 2). Preferably the molding mixture isfirst applied with a spatula and then at fine points is worked out witha stylus or with any other small rounded instrument which will notpuncture the paper. The surfaces which will appear raised in thefinished work, for instance, the features of the face, the contours ofthe body, creases, folds and so forth of the clothing are covered withthe molding mixture in proper thickness. The correct amount andthickness of the molding mixture must, however, be left to the judgmentof the operator and must be so chosen that the .realistic appearance ofthe photograph will be the result.

Those portions of the picture or photograph which are to be depressed inthe finished work receive a smaller portion of the mixture.

When the proper amount of mixture has been placed on the reverse side ofthe photograph or picture all the molding mixture is cleaned away fromthe edges which must be perfectly clear, and paste of the abovementioned type, for instance the above mentioned Standard Library Pasteis then spread over the entire reverse side of the photograph and alsoover the molding mixture which covers the same (Figure 3).

Now the plaque or plate is which forms the background for the finishedrelief picture is placed on a working table and the photograph orpicture is placed with the molding mixture downward and turned towards vthe said plaque 18 (Figure 4). Now all the surfaces which are to bedepressed are gently pressed to the plaque or plate by the operator.Then the raised surfaces are pressed to the, plaque. This pressing mustbe done very carefullyand the amount of pressure which is exerted mustbe finely regulated by the operator as the mixture is still soft in thisstage of the process. The edges of the photograph or picture are thenpressed smoothly to the plaque by the operator using her fingers, andcare must be taken that no air spaces are left.

During the next stage, shown in Figure 5, the detail of the picture isworked outby means of a small instrument or stylus. With this instrumentthe operator has to shape the features of the face of the portrait andalso the body contours, the hair and the clothing in detail.

When this work has been performed the plaque 18 with the relief picturenow completely shaped is left to dry at room temperature. Duringthisdrying process the molding mixture will harden completely so that a firmand hard relief body, covered by the sheet with the photograph, is

formed. When the relief is set and dry the plaque and the raised pictureare'provided with a coating of shellac. The shellac is then allowed todry and the surface is then sanded with a very fine marine sandpaper.Also the photograph or picture is sanded very gently. Next a coating ofclear varnish is applied to the entire plaque and to the reliefphotograph. The plaque may be left glossy or, if desired, only thebackground is left glossy and the photograph or picture is given a dullfinish by removing the varnish therefrom by means of a linen cloth assoon as the varnish has been applied. In any case the varnish should beallowed to overlap the edges of the photograph in order to permanentlycement the photograph to the plaque.

The finished article is shown in Figure 6 and a cross section throughthe finished article is shown in Figure 7.

From the above description of the process it will be seen that a skilledoperator will produce an artistically attractive article of highlyrealistic appearance consisting in a relief picture of the object, thephotograph of which has been used,

which object although still presenting to the observer the full view ofa photographic picture, or print will also produce the impression of arelief in three dimensions and will thus replace the impression of amonocular picture viewed in a plane by the impression of a reproductionin space. This impression is produced and highly accentuated by the factthat such an object has a varying system of lights and shadows of itsown, changing with the illumination and the relative position of lightand relief, and if a suitable photograph is chosen in which the visibleand permanent system of lights and shadows may cooperate with the lightsand shadows produced by the relief, at least in definite positions, ahighly satisfactory three dimensional impression may be obtained, muchsuperior to the flat and monocular view of a picture presented in oneplane, as viewed from a fixed standpoint.

While the artistic qualities of the relief will largely depend on theskill of the operator, the process, as described, provides anopportunity to obtain good pictures even without much skill, if a numberof rules are observed and merely a single stage of the process, viz. theshaping of the details shown in Figure 5 requires a higher degree ofskill.

It will be clear that the process may undergo a number of changesespecially with respect to the unessential details without in any waydeparting from the essence of the invention as defined in the annexedclaims.

Having described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

1. A process for making pictures in relief from planar photographs onthin or thinned out paper, consisting in tracing on the back of thepicture made of thin paper, the lines and areas to be raised and thoseto remain despressed, in placing the picture face downward on a workplate and in applying a molding composition in an easily moldable statewhich is capable of hardening, in molding the back surface so as toroughly reproduce the raised and depressed areas of the picture, bycovering the raised portions of the picture with a thicker layer ofmolding material than the depressed portions, the differencecorresponding approximately to that to be obtained in the finishedpicture, in applying an adhesive paste on the entire surface coveredwith moldable material, in placing the paper picture carrying on itsback the molding composition covered with the adhesive paste face up ona plaque, so that the adhesive adheres to the plaque, in bringing thedepressed portions manually into contact with the plaque so that theentire back surface now lies in the plan of the plaque, thus producingdepressions and raised areas on the thin paper sheet, in manuallyshaping the fine features of the picture by applying a tool on thefront, in pressing the edges of the paper carrying the picture on theplaque so that they adhere to the same around the entire contour, inapplying a layer of shellac, and further applying a layer of varnishcovering the entire surface including the edges and also includingadjacent parts and in drying the relief at room temperature.

2. A process for making partly non-glossy relief pictures as claimed inclaim 1, wherein the varnish is removed from the non-glossy portionsimmediately after application of the varnish.

ODETTE M. VARNER.

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 153,048 Chin July 14, 1874576,047 Fairchild Jan. 26, 1897 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date13,434 Great Britain of

